45ACP hollow point doesn't expand in a 3-inch barrel

Hello. It just depends on the JHP. Some of the newer loads are designed to expand when fired from shorter bbl's. Corbon offers a "Compact Gun Load" in .45 ACP and I think that Speer is doing the same now in .45 ACP as they did in .38 Special and .357 Magnum.

If interested, here are some observations via informal tests on the Corbon load:

Triton 54 woman might think so.
I know this out of my Para P-10 (warthog father) and the Llama clone I had 230 ball was useless . Had 1/4" Lexan stop round cold at 15' would not shoot thru wall of my barn. could pull out of wood with fingers. When same targets shot with a Colt Commander no trouble.' I went with the Corbon DPX 165 gr compact non+P and this round performed great. The short guns are gone and I have returned to Commander or Gov size. But have keep the corbon loading for my carry. You can order ammo from Corbon Thats what I do as they never have any in my area. If nothing else stay around 185 and a +P that will work

Triton 54 woman might think so.
I know this out of my Para P-10 (warthog father) and the Llama clone I had 230 ball was useless . Had 1/4" Lexan stop round cold at 15' would not shoot thru wall of my barn. could pull out of wood with fingers. When same targets shot with a Colt Commander no trouble.' I went with the Corbon DPX 165 gr compact non+P and this round performed great. The short guns are gone and I have returned to Commander or Gov size. But have keep the corbon loading for my carry. You can order ammo from Corbon Thats what I do as they never have any in my area. If nothing else stay around 185 and a +P that will work

Having done a few tests after first reading this garbage in an earlier posting I can only say BS. Nothing further will be added!

I saw some 185 and 200 gr .45ACP at Cabela's this weekend. I'll probably get some of those. The part that sucks is it costs so much to run 100+ rounds through my gun to build that confidence level to carry it.

The longer .45 certainly developed the sort of velocity we associate with this grand old cartridge, while the snubby .45 was slower by more than 100 feet per second. To my considerable surprise, both penetration and expansion were generally quite good. However, I am still puzzled as to why the well-known 230-grain Federal Hydra-Shok did not expand in either gun. I have fired this same load into the same tank on earlier occasions and produced excellent results. The Speer Gold Dot performed very well, expanding up to .70 inch and penetrating to as much as 46 inches from the tiny little Tussey .45.

But the logical question to ask is: Do you pay a penalty in bullet performance for a shorter barrel? When I began to work on this project, I would have bet a substantial sum that the answer would be yes.
It didn't quite turn out that way.

There was a time when you could say that load A was demonstrably superior to load B. Those days are gone. So while my personal choice continues to be a Commander-size pistol, those who choose the ultra compact .45s don't have to worry. Ammunition manufacturers have done a good job in designing bullets that will work over a fairly large velocity window.

I would get two or three boxes of Speer Gold Dot SB 230 Grain GDHP (part number 23975) and run them though the PT-145 to make sure it feeds it reliably, and call it good. Also make sure it does not tumble on you or the HP will do no good at all.

It is probably the best round for the little shooter in my opinion. Just my two cents.